Sunday, March 1, 2009

Roasted Tomato Winter Pasta Salad


I absolutly love pasta salad. I make meals out of it during the summer. I especially love making it with my mom. She always uses tortellini, and I think I eat half the tortellini out of the salad. She always cooks the pasta, then douses it with Italian dressing while it's warm so it really soaks it up, then refrigerates it. Winter has been dragging on... and on.... and on.... so I decided to make myself some pasta salad for dinner, but I made it warm with some wintry elements.

I didn't use tortellini because it is pretty high in calories, and I'd eat the whole package, so I went with Barilla plus rotini, and I roasted some cherry tomatoes with garlic. I added some peas because they're my favorite, feta for something different, and chick peas for protein. This meal was pretty light, really healthy, and very easy!

Roasted Tomato Winter Pasta Salad

1/2 box Barilla Plus Rotini
1 pint grape tomatoes
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tbsp. EVOO
salt and pepper
1/2 c. peas
2/3 c. chick peas
1/4 c. fat free feta
2 tbsp. Light Italian Dressing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place tomatoes on a foil lined baking sheet.
Toss in garlic, EVOO, salt and pepper.
Roast for 15 minutes, or until tomatoes burst.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt heavily.
Drop in pasta, cook 10 minutes.
Add peas to the last minute of cooking pasta.
Drain, put back in the pot, toss with dressing.



3 comments:

Joanne said...

This looks like all of the flavors would make it taste really fresh! My mom always makes tortelini pasta salad in the summer as well...she usually gets store-bought pesto from an Italian deli. I have hijacked the dish, however, by insisting on making my own pesto. My solution to the high calorie thing...mix it with TONS of veggies so that you eat more low calorie bits than high calorie bits and still feel full.

Kelly said...

I absolutely love pasta salad as well. Adding the roasted tomatoes is a great way to give it a wintery feel.

Colleen said...

Pasta salad is my FAVORite thing to make! I love your idea of roasted tomatoes to give it more of a winter feel - looks great!